World’s Most Expensive Golf Course

Dutch
Docklands, a player in the world of floating technologies, (or making
land where there was no land), has announced plans to build a $500
million floating golf course off the Maldives coast. While there are
plenty of golf courses that claim to be “on” the water, this one would
quite literally be atop the Indian Ocean.The
concept is a series of man-made islands with one or more holes on each,
linked by transparent undersea tunnels. Golfers walk or ride through
these submerged pathways, taking in the seafloor sights while pondering
which iron to use next. And the clubhouse? You’ll have to take an
elevator to the sea bottom to get to it. At half a billion dollars, it
will be by far the most expensive golf course ever built.

The floating golf mecca, which is scheduled to be open for play in
2013, will be run by industry leader Troon Golf, the gold standard of
international high-end golf course and club management. The
yet-to-be-named project is part of a larger government-approved
development which will include 200 villas and about 45 private islands
off the Maldives coast.
In historic terms, our understanding of golf excess first shifted in
1990, when the Las Vegas wunderkind Steve Wynn built mega-course Shadow
Creek. To say no expense was spared in construction is a gross
understatement. It is said Wynn gave architect Tom Fazio a blank check
and a blank desert canvas. Serious earth moving on the 320-acre site
boosted the elevation from less than six feet to more than 213 feet.
Nearly 21,000 fully mature trees, mostly pines and cottonwoods, were
transplanted. While no numbers were released, the best guess in the
business is that Shadow Creek cost about $40 million to build, then the
most expensive course in history. That’s about $70 million today or less
than one-seventh of the proposed Maldives course cost.
These days the title of most expensive golf course on earth belongs
to one of two New Jersey neighbors (private clubs do not have to release
cost reports). The number $250 million has been tossed around for
valuations of Liberty National, the pet project of Reebok founder Paul
Fireman. The ultra-exclusive course is known for its granite walking
bridges and $500,000 joining free. Nearby Bayonne Golf Club has merely
been rumored to have cost in the $150 million-plus range, mainly due to a
huge undersea dredging project required as part of the permitting. If
the new Dutch Docklands project comes to fruition – even on budget –
these bragging rights will have to move halfway around the world.
Source: Forbes & Yahoo News